Ancient Persia and the Achaemenid Persian Empire

Did you know that the ancient Persians invented the birthday party? Hello and welcome to World History Encyclopedia. My name is Kelly and today's video is all about the long history of ancient Persia. We're going to delve into the early history of Persia, the development of the region, and the establishment of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Don't forget the easiest way to support us is by giving this video a thumbs up, subscribing to our channel, and hitting that bell icon for notifications so you don't miss out on any new uploads. The region of ancient Persia, which is modern-day Iran, has one of the longest histories, reaching back to the Paleolithic age some 100,000 years ago. People inhabited the region in seasonal settlements and prior to 10,000 BCE, semi-permanent settlements had been established. The ancient kingdom of Elam, though, had already settled, with their oldest archaeological site, Shoa Bonat, dating to circa 7,200 BCE. The Elamites were conquered in the region by the Sumerians, who had their capital at Sumer, then by the Assyrians, and then again later by the Medes. During this early history, before the people that would become the Persians had moved into the region, the city of Susa was already established and dates to 4395 BCE, and was first a part of Elam and then of the Persians later. The state of Susa, though, already existed prior to the Proto-Elamite period, which dates to between circa 3,200 and 2,700 BCE, but was contemporaneous with the Elamite culture. Prior to the third millennium BCE, Aryan or Indo-Iranian tribes may have migrated to the region. The term Aryan in the Avestan language of the Indo-Iranian tribes means civilized, noble, and free, which is a class of people but had no connotations to race. They referred to themselves by this term in the Avestan language, used in the religious work of the Avesta as a form of cultural self-identification, not as an ethnicity. These tribes that moved into the region separated into different cultures, the Alans, the Bactrians, the Medes, the Parthians, and the Persians, whose name derives from the place where they settled, Persis, modern-day Fars province, Iran. Their movement brought with them not only people but ideas, and among the most influential was their polytheistic religion. This religion had the god Ahura Mazda as the supreme deity of the pantheon, which also included other deities like Mithra, the god of the sun, and Anahita, the goddess of fertility, health, water, and wisdom. Between circa 1500 and 1000 BCE, a Persian priest named Zoroaster, also known as Zarathustra, claimed he received a vision from Ahura Mazda. The god told him to rectify the error of following a polytheistic religion and to instead declare that only one god exists, himself, obviously. This new was the first monotheistic religion in the world. This religion was later adopted by the Achaemenid Persian Empire and those who succeeded it, namely the Parthian and Sasanian empires. This monotheistic religion, which featured a single god who took an interest into the lives and morality of humans and was a deity of justice and order, went on to inform the later monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Since the Elamites were already firmly established in the region by the first millennium BCE, they were probably the indigenous people, and it is during this time that the Persians settled in the Iranian plateau, and the Medes, under the chief Dayuku, who ruled between 727 and 675 BCE, established their state in Ecbatana. With the Persian territory moving into the modern-day region of Azerbaijan in the late 8th century BCE, the Persians established their capital city at Anshan and spread through the central western region of the Bakhtiyari mountains. To the east of Elam, in the territory of Persis, the Persians settled under their king, Taspis, and you can see now where they got their name from. The Persians expanded their control and eventually intermarried with the Elamites, and then absorbed the Elamite culture into their own. Taspis split his kingdom between his two sons, Cyrus I, who ruled the north, and Ariamnes, who ruled the south. Under the rule of Cambyses I, though, between 580 and 559 BCE, the two kingdoms were reunited. At this time, the Medes were the dominant power in the region, with Persia just being a small vessel state, but were overthrown by Cambyses I of Persia and Cyrus II, also known as Cyrus the Great. The Achaemenid Persian Empire, often just referred to as the Achaemenid Empire, was founded by Cyrus the Great, who reigned from circa 550 to 530 BCE. Cyrus II overthrew the Median king Astyages and then began to systematically campaign to bring other regions under his control. What follows is a number of kingdoms that he conquered, the Lydians in 546 BCE, Elam in 540 BCE, and Babylon in 539 BCE. After his 30-year reign, the Achaemenid Empire stretched from modern-day Turkey to Syria and across to the borders of India. While Cyrus expanded his borders, he also improved upon the regions he conquered, namely by having his engineers create cannats, which are sloping channels dug under the earth to bring water up to ground level, which was necessary given that much of the land he conquered didn't have much of a water supply. Cyrus the Great had his policies and his vision inscribed on what is known as the Cyrus Cylinder, considered by some scholars as the first declaration of human rights, where he decreed how he wanted his people to live freely and in peace with others. Women were given more rights in ancient Persia than in any other culture of the time, and a slave in Persia had it better than a servant in many other civilizations. Cyrus embodied this vision of equality and peace in other ways, like by allowing all the Jews in Babylon who had been taken from their homeland by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II to return to Judah and giving them funds to rebuild their temple. He also didn't impose his religion on others, with the Lydians continuing to worship their goddess Cybele, and others doing the same with their deities. Cyrus just wanted people to live peacefully, serve in his armies, and pay their taxes. The stability he provided allowed for the development of some impressive inventions and innovations, such as refrigeration, air conditioning, hospitals, the guitar, and even an annual event people take for granted today, the birthday party. With himself at the top of the social hierarchy, Cyrus then placed regional governors known as satraps in each province or satrapy of his kingdom. These satraps had control of governmental and administrative matters, while Cyrus had a military commander in each satrapy who oversaw the military and police matters. To keep the empire running smoothly, the Persians used a network of roads to speedily deliver Cyrus's decrees and any other messages, thereby creating the first postal system. Messengers would leave a city and within two days would find a watchtower and a rest station where he was given food, drink, and a bed, and a new horse to continue his journey. The major road of this network, and most famous, would become the Royal Road, and was the precursor for one of the In his huge empire, Cyrus founded his capital city of Pasigarde, but also used the other major cities of Ecbatana, Babylon, and Susa as administrative hubs. And of course, the Royal Road connected all of these cities along with others in the empire. It's said that Cyrus was a big lover of gardening, and as much time as he spent expanding his empire, he spent working on his gardens. Gardens became central to Persian landscaping and were so lush and beautiful that the Persian name for garden, Pyridesa, gives English its word, paradise. After Cyrus the Great died in 530 BCE, his son Cambyses II succeeded him and reigned from 530 to 522 BCE. He expanded the empire even further by pushing its boundaries into Egypt. His reign came to an end only eight years after it began, when he was assassinated by a distant cousin who took the regnal name of Darius I, also known as Darius the Great, who ruled from 522 to 486 BCE. Darius extended the borders of the empire even further, and initiated some of the empire's greatest building projects, like the city of Persepolis, which became a capital city of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Darius I continued with the same vision of tolerance that Cyrus II initiated, but as was standard in the ancient world, some provinces of the Persian Empire caused some unrest, and the Ionian Greek colonies of Asia Minor, backed by Athens, was among them. Darius moved to invade Greece but was stopped at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE, after the Greek city-states were victorious over the Persian forces. After the death of Darius the Great in 486 BCE, he was succeeded by his son Xerxes I, who reigned until 465 BCE. It is said that he raised the largest army in history, but was still unsuccessful in his invasion of Greece in 480 BCE. After this defeat, Xerxes focused his efforts on building projects and added to the great city of Persepolis. The Achaemenid Empire remained stable under their successive rulers, up until they were conquered by Alexander the Great during the reign of Darius III in 330 BCE. Darius III was assassinated by his bodyguard Bessus, who then proclaimed himself Artaxerxes V, but was executed by Alexander shortly after. And so the Achaemenid Empire came to a complete end in 329 BCE, with Alexander the Great often being referred to as the last monarch of the empire. After the death of Alexander the Great, the vast territories he had amassed as his empire were divided among his generals, and one of these men, Seleucus I Nicator, founded the Seleucid Empire, which encompassed the regions of Central Asia and Mesopotamia. He kept the Persian form of government, but put Greeks into the top administrative positions, and had the Greeks and Persians intermarry. Greek became the language of the administration, but the Persians maintained the governmental policies and cultural norms that had worked so well for them in the past. In the years that followed, the Parthian Empire grew in dominance in the region, and as they grew, the Seleucid Empire shrank, until eventually the Parthians were at their strongest, and the Seleucids were just a small buffer kingdom in Syria after they were defeated by the Roman general Pompey the Great. The Parthians, though, kept filling their treasury due to prosperous trade, maintaining peace in their empire, and creating this seamless blend of Persian and Hellenistic art and architecture due to their stability. The Parthians were skilled in mounted warfare, which helped them easily defeat the Romans at Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE, and later win against Mark Antony in 36 BCE. But even so, Rome kept growing in strength and power, especially after the Roman Empire was established, and by 165 CE, the Parthian Empire had been seriously weakened by Roman campaigns. In 224 CE, the vassal Ardashir I, a descendant of Darius III, overthrew the last Parthian king, Artabanus IV, and began building a stable empire founded on the precepts of the Zoroastrianism religion, and keeping the kingdom safe from Rome. And so he established the Sasanian Empire. In 240 CE, his son Shapur I, who was also a devout Zoroastrian, became king and worked to grow his territory and strengthen its borders. The greatest successor to Shapur I, who laid the foundation of the Sasanian Empire, was Khosrau I, who reformed the tax laws, secured the borders, elevated the importance of education, and continued the religious tolerance established by Shapur I. The rulers of the Sasanian Empire built upon the best aspects of the Achaemenid Empire, and then improved them. Even after they were conquered by the Muslim Arabs in the 7th century CE, the culture of the conquerors came to be informed by Persian technological, architectural, and religious innovations. Persian innovations, in fact, continue to inform cultures around the world in the present day. What is your favorite Persian cultural contribution? Let us know in the comments below. If you enjoyed this video, make sure to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to our channel so you don't miss out on our new videos every Tuesday and Friday. This video was brought to you by World History Encyclopedia. For more great articles and interactive content, head to our website via the link below. World History Encyclopedia is a non-profit organization and you can find us on Patreon, a brilliant site where you can support our work and receive exclusive benefits in return. Your support helps us create videos twice a week, so make sure to check it out via the pop-up in the top corner of the screen or via the Patreon link down below. Thank you so much for watching, and we'll see you soon with another video!